Prefabricated extendable enclosure



Oct. 7, 1969 F. ORLIAC 'PREFABRICATED EXTENDABLE ENCLOSURE 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Sept. 25. 1967 IN YEN 7'04? FRANCO/5 URL mc Oct. 7, 1969 Filed Sept. 25, 1967 F. ORLIAC 3, 70, 5

PREFABRI CATED EXT ENDABLE ENCLOSURE 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 l5 l9 I6 22 Fig. 3

Fig. 4

' INVENWR FRANCO/5' Oeunc 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Sept. 25, 1967 IN VE N TOR FRflNCO/S ORLMC United States Patent Office 3,470,658 Patented Oct. 7, 1969 Int. Cl. E04h 1/12 E04b 1/343, 7/14 U.S. C]. 52-28 10 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A prefabricated extendable enclosure to be connected to the interior of an existing structure by means of a group of individual, self-supporting elements, the enclosure includes a plurality of corner elements, each of which comprises at least two mutually inclined substantially upright wall portions with at least one roof portion inclined with respect to each of the wall portions, and wall elements, placed between the corner elements, and having a substantially upright wall portion with a roof portion inclined with respect thereto, attachment means is provided for attaching the roof portion of each of the corner and wall elements to the existing structure.

This invention relates generally to prefabricated structures and more particularly to a prefabricated structure which is to be erected within a previously constructed room or building.

Known methods of making Operating rooms out of previously constructed rooms include the rebuilding of the entire room by a skilled crew of carpenters, electricians, masons, etc, or by using available prefabricated elements that may be bought on the open market.

The first of these methods is time consuming, extremely expensive and can usually only be done in steps, with one crew of skilled laborers waiting for the previous crew to finish its assigned tasks.

While the second method may prove useful in certain situations, most of the time, available prefabricated structures are made to specific dimensions which cannot fit in all available enclosures. Many times these prefabricated elements have proved to be either too short or too long for the existing space requirements and costly machining and altering operations must be carried out before the elements may be properly placed in service. Furthermore, many of the necessary altering and machin ing operations cannot be performed on the spot and the elements must be transported to a factory or machine shop, if such an institution is at all available.

There therefore existed a long-standing need for prefabricated elements which can be easily shaped in situ to meet any local requirements or restrictions in the available space. Such elements need to be light in weight, easily handled, readily assembled and easily adjusted so as to fit in an enclosure of which the exact measurements were not previously known. With such elements a room such as an emergency operating room may be set up in a short period of time in any remote or sparsely settled area which would not usually have the necessary money or equipment to build such a room based on previously specified plans.

The present invention meets this long-standing need by providing prefabricated elements which are easily assembled, low in cost and which may be adjusted on the spot so as to closely fit into the existing or available structure. These elements also include portions which may be transformed into doors, windows, ventilators, storage space, etc. depending on the existing needs and the eventual use of the enclosure. Furthermore, these elements are easily assembled and disassembled so as to enable the room or enclosure to be moved from one area to another if the need arises.

It is therefore an object of the instant invention to provide low cost, easily assembled prefabricated elements which may be assembled into an enclosure of any desired s1ze.

Another object of the present invention is the provision of prefabricated elements which may be assembled in a supporting structure without any limitations as to size.

Still another object of the instant invention is to provide more reliable prefabricated elements which may be assembled in a preconstructed room to form an operating room regardless of the size of the pre-existing room.

Briefly, in accordance with one aspect of the invention, the foregoing and other objects are attained by providing four prefabricated corner elements each having three side walls and roof elements which may be attached to the ceiling of a pre-existing structure where the prefabricated elements are to be assembled into a room or enclosure. The four corner elements are connected by prefabricated wall elements which also contain roof elements and any space or gap that may remain between the wall and corner elements is filled by a joint panel which may be easily varied in width by a simple machining operation.

A more complete appreciation of the invention and many of the attendant advantages there-of will be readily seen as the same becomes better understood by reference to the following description when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 shows a preferred embodiment of one of the corner elements of the present invention;

FIgICi. 2 is a top view of the corner element shown in FIG. 3 is a cross-section of the corner element of FIG. 2, taken along line B-B;

FIG. 4 shows in perspective, the branch member used to connect the various panels of the present invention;

FIG. 5 shows a complete enclosure formed by the elements of this invention; and

FIG. 6 is a top view of the enclosure shown in FIG. 5.

Referring now to the drawings, FIGS. 1 to 3 show one of the corner elements 1 forming part of the enclosure of the invention. This element 1 comprises two mutually inclined substantially upright rectangular wall portions 2 separated by a central rectangular wall portion 3, the three Wall portions being disposed with respect to one another so that each portion 2 forms.- an angle of with the portion 3.

To the upper edge of the wall portion 3 is attached, by means to be described in more detail later, a roof portion 5 in the form of a right-angled triangle disposed with its base along the upper edge, and inclined at any convenient angle to the horizontal. To the upper edges respectively of each wall portion 2 are joined identical rectangular roof portions 6 disposed at the same angle to the horizontal as the roof portion 5 and joined to the adjacent edges of the latter.

The corner element 1 is completed by a further rightangled triangular roof portion 7 disposed horizontally with its apex adjoining the apex of triangular roof portion 5 and with its sides joined to the inner ends of the rectangular roof portions 6. Storage recesses 8 are formed in the portion 3.

Simple identical side wall panels 9 (FIG. 6) are formed by upright wall portions 10 and roof portions 11 inclined at the same angle as the rectangular roof portions 5 and 6 of the corner elements so as to produce a uniformly inclined sloping roof area around the periphery of the enclosure formed by assembly of the different elements 1 and 9.

The self-supporting wall and corner elements 1 and 9 can be constructed in any suitable manner and of any suitable materials. However, when the enclosure is to be used as a surgical operating room, the panels can conveniently be made from self-supporting metal frames 17 filled with glass panels 18. Adjacent panels are joined together to form the complete assembly 'by riveting or welding, for example, of the metal frame 17.

As will be seen from FIGS. 5 and 6, one form of enclosure according to the invention is formed from four corner portions 1 symmetrically disposed, and four simple wall portions 9 disposed in pairs to form opposite side walls of the enclosure in conjunction with upright wall portions 2 of corner elements 1. The corner elements are placed in pairs so that adjacent upright wall portions 2 form the ends of the enclosure without interposition of further wall elements. These adjacent elements are, however, spaced so as to leave openings 12 to which can be fitted suitable doors 13.

In order that the size of the finished structure may be finely adjusted despite its construction from prefabricated corner and wall elements of predetermined fixed size, joint panels 14 are used to fill the gaps between wall elements which are too small to be filled by further wall elements. These joint panels are the last parts of the structure to be placed in position and are cut to size before fitting in order to fill completely any gaps left between wall elements 9.

Each roof portion is connected by attachment means 15 (FIGS. 3 and 5) to a supporting structure 16 above the enclosure, which connection stabilizes the element and assists in its location. The load of the elements 1 and 9 themselves is transmitted through the self-supporting frames 17 to the fioor 50 so that little load is applied to the supporting structure 16.

Suspended from the supporting structure 16 by the roof portion connecting means 15 is a false ceiling 19 shaped to fit within but above the area defined by the roof portions of the corner and wall elements 1 and 9. In order that the height of the enclosure may be finely adjusted, a joint panel 20 is disposed between the false ceiling and the roof portions having been cut to size on the site. Moreover, a lighting system for the interior of the enclosure, shown as a continuous strip light 21, is fixed around the periphery of the enclosure at the level of the upper edges of the roof elements. Any convenient lighting system may be located on a suitable part of the enclosure structure in order to produce a desired level of lighting at the interior of the latter. In the construction shown, the lighting strip forms part of a rigid but transparent sectioned structure 22 disposed between the upper edges of the roof elements and the attachment means 15, which structure serves to add to the rigidity of the enclosure structure as a whole. The structure 22 is formed from frames and panels in the same manner as the wall and corner elements, and in the construction shown forms part of the latter.

As can be seen from FIG. 1, the upper and lower portions of the central rectangular panel of the corner elements are formed as ventilating grills 23. Such grills may however be formed at convenient locations on any part of the wall or roof portions, and means, such as fans or blowers (not shown) for creating a desired air flow through the enclosure may be arranged at con- Wenient positions with respect to the grills 23. Filter elements (not shown) to clean the air may be incorporated in the grills, particularly if the enclosure is used as a surgical operating room.

Any of the wall or roof panels can be provided with trays, drawers or recesses represented in a general manner at 8 for the storage of articles associated for example 4 with the purpose for which the enclosure is to be used. Thus, in the case of a surgical operating room, such storage facilities may be designed to receive surgical instruments and apparatus. Any number and arrangement of storage facilities can be provided according to requirements.

As well as the doors 13 formed between adjacent corner elements, doors can also be formed in any of the wall elements, and one such door is shown at 24 in FIG. 6.

The various elements constituting the enclosure can be joined together in any suitable manner such as by welding together of the frames 17 of the elements. In order to form a composite element such as a corner element 1, the various panels of the element are joined together by means of a branched connecting member shown generally at 25 in FIG. 4. This connecting member is formed from four channel elements 26 relatively disposed at such angles that each branch accommodates an edge of one of the panels forming the elements 1. The assembly is finally secured in any suitable manner such as by riveting or welding. As indicated by the broken lines in FIG. 4, the channel members 26 can be of any suitable length.

It will be seen that the invention provides an enclosure the size of which can :be adjusted if necessary to fit within a number of different outer structures. The manner of construction enables a sound proofed, and if necessary sealed, structure to be made, and if made from metal frames filled with glass, the enclosure lends itself well to cleaning and sterilization which makes it particularly suitable for use as a surgical operating room. It may however be used for many purposes requiring some or all of the aforementioned qualities, and can be adapted for example to make an excellent recording or broadcasting room.

What is claimed is:

1. An enclosure erected from a plurality of prefabricated self-supporting elements adapted to be connected to a supporting structure above the enclosure, said enclosure including a plurality of corner elements each comprising at least three mutually inclined substantially upright wall portions joined at their edges to form a symmetrically angled assembly, an inclined roof portion in the form of an isosceles triangle joined at its base along the upper edge of the centre of said three upright wall portions, two inclined rectangular identical roof portions each having one edge joined to the upper edge of an outer upright wall portion and an edge joined to a side of said triangular roof portion, and a further triangular portion disposed substantially parallel to the ground with its apex contacting the apex of the first named triangular roof portion and its sides joined respectively to the free ends of said rectangular portions, said corner elements being separated by wall elements each comprising a substantially upright wall portion and a roof portion inclined with respect thereto, and attachment means for attaching the roof portion of each of said corner and wall elements to a supporting means.

2. An enclosure according to claim 1 wherein a false ceiling is suspended from said supporting means above the inclined portions of said corner and wall elements.

3. An enclosure according to claim 2 wherein said false ceiling is supported by said attachment means.

4. An enclosure according to claim 2 wherein a joint panel is disposed between the false ceiling and the upper edges of said corner and wall elements having been adapted during assembly of the enclosure substantially to fill any space between said corner and wall elements.

5. An enclosure according to claim 1 wherein vertical joint panels are disposed between adjacent corner and wall elements, said panels having been adapted during assembly of the enclosure substantially to fill gaps between said elements which are of smaller dimensions than said elements to enable the size of the finished enclosure to be finely adjusted.

6. An enclosure according to claim 1 wherein all said corner and Wall elements comprise outer frames and a light constructional material filling said frames.

7. An enclosure according to claim 6 wherein said constructional material is glass.

8. An enclosure according to claim 1 wherein at least some of said upright Wall portions and said wall elements have storage containers attached thereto.

9. An enclosure according to claim 1 wherein at least some of said upright wall portions and wall elements have ventilation grills.

10. An enclosure according to claim 1 wherein illumination means are disposed around said enclosure in the region of the upper edges of the roof portions of said corner and wall elements.

References Cited FOREIGN PATENTS 1909 Great Britain.

FRANK L. ABBOTT, Primary Examiner SAM D. BURKE III, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 

